PORTSMOUTH — Without Dr. Roderick Terry, who knows what might have happened to Portsmouth’s Butts Hill Fort, considered to be the largest existing Revolutionary War earthwork in southern New England.

“Around 1910, a man by the name of Benjamin Hall owned all this land, and people were considering what to do with it. The main thing that was decided — and I’ve seen the plan — was 200 house lots,” Town Historian Jim Garman told a crowd that gathered Saturday at the Battle of Rhode Island site, just a short walk into the woods from Portsmouth High School.

In fact, members of the nonprofit Battle of Rhode Island Association (BoRIA), which organized the event in partnership with the Portsmouth Historical Society, had the development’s original plat map on display Saturday. 

Although Garman said it would have been difficult to turn the site into a large housing development because of all the slate underneath — the property was once home to one of Portsmouth’s three coal mines — Terry still deserves credit for his efforts in preserving a big chunk of the town’s historical heritage. In 1923 he purchased the site and donated it to the Newport Historical Society, of which he was president. 

And, with the ongoing work of the Butts Hill Fort Restoration Committee and its offshoot, BoRIA, future generations will also be able to visit the site and appreciate its historical significance, Garman said.

“You can re-create in your mind’s eye what happened here before we get too many housing developments in Portsmouth. You can still see open space,” he said.

Saturday’s event featured period actors, the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, musket demonstrations by the Artillery Company of Newport, Henry Knox Color Guard, speeches under a tent, a cake-cutting ceremony and more. 

The guest speaker was Michael J. Simpson, a public historian from Providence who teaches U.S. history at Johnson and Wales University and is the founder of Hidden History Tours in downtown Newport. He spoke on the “privilege and preservation” surrounding Terry, who was also president of the Redwood Library in Newport until his death in 1933.

Although Terry was born in Brooklyn in 1849 into a life of wealth, he was also a “visionary preservationist” who enriched “our state’s cultural tapestry,” Simpson said. He retired as a clergyman in New York in 1904 and went back to his vacation home in Newport, Simpson said.

Terry was enamored of the role that Butts Hill Fort played in the Battle of Rhode Island, when American troops and the French Navy attempted to retake Aquidneck Island from occupying British troops on Aug. 29, 1778.

“And though that ultimately failed, the event shaped the course of the war and embodied the spirit of resilience and determination that defined the American role in the conflict,” Simpson said.

And so, on Aug. 29, 1923, the 145th anniversary of the battle, “Roderick Terry delivered a poignant speech during the dedication ceremony on this very site,” said Simpson, adding that the generous donation was commemorated by military reenactment and a ceremony attended by thousands of people.

Three conditions

In donating the property, Terry listed three stipulations that were to be followed, otherwise the property would automatically default from the Newport Historical Society to the State of Rhode Island, Simpson said:

• The property must be maintained as a memorial or monument to those who fought in the American Revolution and specifically the Battle of Rhode Island.

• The property must always be known as Butts Hill Fort.

• The property should never be used for monetary gain.

“Terry’s contributions were not limited to his financial support,” Simpson said. “He invested his time, intellect and unwavering passion to ensure that future generations of all backgrounds could have access to our shared past. Let us recommit ourselves to the preservation of our historical heritage. May we draw inspiration from Roderick Terry’s unwavering dedication and recognize that true power of privilege lies not in persona gain but in using resources to safeguard the stories, artifacts and landmarks that connect us all to our common past.”

He also reminded the crowd that the Butts Hill Fort property “has always been Native land, home to the ancestors of the Pocasset, Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples, for thousands of years.”

‘A noble gesture’

Also speaking was Town Council member Charles Levesque, who tackled the question of why Terry would choose to establish “a monument to war” just six years after the end of World War I. He pointed out there was still somewhat of a nativist movement in the United States in 1923, with some citizens not accepting of certain religions and nationalities coming into the country.

Levesue said he believed that Terry’s action was meant as a statement that harkened back to a time when a community fought for the liberty and freedom of all its people. “It was a noble gesture to the people of that time, and hopefully to the people of our time, to forget the differences we have and remember the uniqueness that we have of being one great nation,” he said.

State Sen. Linda Ujifusa quoted Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers who served as the first U.S. secretary of treasury in the lats 1700s: “Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.”

But in this case, there’s overwhelmingly support in continuing to make improvements at Butts Hill Fort, she said, which is evident by the 45 local, state, and national organizations that serve as partners with BoRIA, as well as the many volunteers who have participated in numerous site cleanups. 

Craig Clark, president of the Portsmouth Historical Society and a BoRIA founder, gave special thanks to those volunteers and committee members.

“Since starting the group three years ago, the restoration committee has held over 12 cleanups, hauled out 20-plus dumpsters of debris, we’ve had 160 volunteers on site at one point in time. We’ve created the most comprehensive website related to the Battle of Rhode Island, and we’ve partnered with more than 45 organizations and raised $180,000 to date,” he said.

“We actually have a fort and you can see it. When you stand on this (south) ledge and look at Newport Bridge, you can understand how important this property was during the Battle of Rhode Island. This was the headquarters for Nathaniel Greene and Gen. Sullivan to oversee the battle.”

For more information, visit https://battleofrhodeisland.org.